Five reasons the Sixers should be cautious at the NBA trade deadline

The 76ers have made at least one move at five consecutive NBA trade deadlines since Daryl Morey took over as president of basketball operations in 2020.

Many of those moves slashed salaries, enabling the Sixers to avoid paying the luxury tax. However, the new acquisitions didn’t make the team’s playoff chances any better.

» READ MORE: What is the Sixers’ biggest need at the NBA trade deadline? Patience.

The Sixers are expected to continue their trend of making moves ahead of this season’s 3 p.m. deadline on Feb. 5. Here are five reasons the Sixers should be cautious at the deadline:

The Sixers are $7 million above the allowable threshold to avoid being taxed. They’re also around $1 million away from being a first-apron team and facing penalties.

Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million), Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.3 million), and Andre Drummond ($5 million) have expiring contracts that could help avoid paying the threshold tax.

But trading a key contributor for the sake of avoiding being taxed would be a bad look for the franchise. It would give the impression that saving money for Sixers managing partner Josh Harris is more important than contending for a title. The team would come off looking cheap, especially considering that the Joel Embiid championship window is closing quickly.

The Sixers don’t have much to give up to upgrade talent via a trade. Aside from Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers don’t have the assets to acquire the type of player who could drastically improve the team. And they’re not trading either of those guys. Nor should they forfeit their future by surrendering future draft picks to help facilitate a trade. The Sixers will need those picks to acquire young talent and continue building around Maxey and Edgecombe after Embiid and Paul George leave.

The Sixers are dangerous as currently constructed. When they play well, they can beat anyone in the East. They’ve won two of their three meetings against the conference’s second-place New York Knicks. The Sixers have done the same against the third-place Boston Celtics, and split the four-game series against the fourth-place Toronto Raptors. They’re 0-2 against the first-place Detroit Pistons. However, the Sixers were without Embiid and George in both games. And they still had opportunities to win before blowing fourth-quarter leads both times. So if they remain healthy, the Sixers are a team no one wants to face in the postseason.

If you bring in someone new, he’ll have to learn to play with Embiid. The current players spent half the season learning how to play with Embiid, Maxey, and George. And based on the Sixers’ early struggles with their Big Three intact, there’s clearly a learning curve to playing alongside Embiid, Maxey, and George.

Players like Oubre, Grimes, Drummond, Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, Adem Bona, Jared McCain, and Trendon Watford have established roles. Tinkering with that could negatively impact the team, especially if the Sixers are not acquiring a major upgrade in talent.

With Drummond and Bona backing up Embiid, who is back to playing at a high level, the center position is set. However, league sources say the Sixers are open to trading Drummond, even though he and Bona have been equally valuable assets, playing behind and often in place of Embiid, who misses games because of knee injury management.

Bona plays against the teams that have fast and athletic centers, while Drummond usually plays against towering centers who flourish in the post.

» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: Will Joel Embiid make the All-Star Game? Will Jared McCain be here after the trade deadline?

The 6-foot-11 Drummond averages a team-leading 8.9 rebounds while playing just 20 minutes per game. Drummond is second in the NBA in rebounds per 36 minutes at 16.0, trailing the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson (16.9). And he has started 17 of the games Embiid has missed, averaging 8.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in those contests.